Urban transport news from the Americas – Page 22
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Metro Report InternationalChicago Red Line extension consulting contract let
USA: The Chicago Transit Authority approved a contract for the planning and preliminary engineering services of the 8·5 km Red Line extension to T Y Lin International Great Lakes on February 10. The three-year contract worth $38·3bn has up to six one-year extensions, and is the final ...
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Metro Report InternationalGoiânia on-demand minibuses complete first year
BRAZIL: Latin America’s on-demand shuttle ride service completed a year of operation on February 18, having carried 80 000 passengers. The CityBus 2.0 project launched in Goiás’ state capital Goiânia in February 2019 with 15 minibuses covering 11 neighbourhoods, before expanding to a fleet of 40 vehicles ...
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Metro Report InternationalKeolis joins Greentown Labs startup incubator
USA: Keolis has joined the Greentown Labs Global Center for Cleantech Innovation as ‘terawatt-level’ partner, the highest level of engagement. The Greentown campus in Somerville, Massachusetts, offers startup companies resources including prototyping and wet lab space, shared offices, a machine shop and an electronics lab. It is ...
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Metro Report InternationalOMNY contactless payment rollout continues in New York
Cubic Transportation systems demonstrated OMNY readers at the Transport Ticketing Global event in London US: New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority expects to expand its OMNY account-based contactless fare payment system to include Subway lines 2, 5 and 6 in the Bronx by the end of February. This ...
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Metro Report InternationalSão Paulo Metro develops a station navigation system for blind passengers
BRAZIL: Metrô de São Paulo has developed an infrared navigation system to help blind passengers navigate stations. The ‘Siga Fácil’ system uses an infrared receptor device that attaches to a user’s mobile phones to receive directions from transmitters installed throughout a station. The directions can then be ...
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Metro Report InternationalSan Francisco Bay transport integration proposal
USA: Californian Assemblyman David Chiu has put forward a bill which would require all 27 transit agencies throughout the San Francisco Bay Area’s nine counties to create a ‘seamlessly integrated public transport system’. The Bay Area Seamless Transit Act filed on February 4 proposes that agencies standardise ...
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Metro Report InternationalBogotá Metro changes metro and BRT lines
COLOMBIA: The Mayor of Bogotá Claudia López has announced a new transport plan for the city, including the extension of the future Bogotá Metro’s first line and a change of the proposed Transmilenio bus rapid transit route. The 4·1km metro extension would run from Calle 72 to ...
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Metro Report InternationalDetroit People Mover runs counter-clockwise for first time in 11 years
USA: The Detroit People Mover is operating counter-clockwise for the first time since 2008. According to the Detroit Transportation Corp, a major rail replacement on the circular line led to a reverse direction operational testing in December 2019. The testing ‘determined that there is an advantage to ...
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Metro Report InternationalFTA approves $4·55bn of transport grants
USA: The Federal Transit Administration has awarded grants totalling $4·55bn to 22 projects. The FTA has granted $18m to various operators in Colorado for projects including the construction of of a bus maintenance facility in Denver and the purchase of a fleet of electric buses and charging ...
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Metro Report InternationalCubic Interactive aims to incentivise public transport use
LOYALTY: Cubic Transportation Systems has launched a loyalty platform which is designed to enable transport agencies to incentivise the use of public transport, to reward passengers for engaging with advertising in transport apps and to encourage travel outside the peaks. The first customer for Cubic Interactive is ...
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Metro Report InternationalFaulty Bombardier Subway cars returned to service
USA: Bombardier has recalibrated the door mechanisms of 298 New York City Transit R179 Subway cars following two isolated instances of train doors opening between stations. The cars were withdrawn from service on the A, C, J and Z lines on January 8 for analysis, and were ...
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Metro Report InternationalGuelph buses to get greener
CANADA: Funding has been announced for three projects to convert the bus fleet in the city of Guelph in Ontario to battery operation. The first involves the replacement of 35 diesel buses with battery vehicles and the installation of on-route charging stations. The second is the ...
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Metro Report InternationalByford quits New York City Transit
USA: New York City Transit President Andy Byford is to leave his role by the end of February. Announcing his resignation on January 23, Byford highlighted the planned restructuring of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority as a factor in his departure. In his current role, Byford has ...
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Metro Report InternationalFederal funding to support Sound Transit light rail extension
USA: Seattle-Tacoma transport authority Sound Transit has been awarded a $790m Full Funding Grant Agreement by the Federal Transit Administration to help fund the 12·6 km Federal Way Link extension of the Seattle light rail network.
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Metro Report InternationalFederal funding to support innovative approaches to public transport
USA: The Federal Transit Administration has launched the Accelerating Innovative Mobility initiative, which Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said would ‘enhance the service, design, and financing of public transportation systems through forward thinking and innovative practices’. AIM includes $11m in challenge grants to help transport agencies experiment with ...
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Metro Report InternationalNew York MTA to study passenger options for Brooklyn freight corridor
Photo: J M Calisi The Bay Ridge line is primarily used by freight operator New York & Atlantic Railway. USA: New York MTA is to launch a formal study of proposals to introduce passenger trains over the 27 km Bay Ridge line in Brooklyn. Passing through ...
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Metro Report InternationalNew York MTA awards 8th Avenue corridor CBTC contract
Source: Joseph Calisi USA: New York MTA has awarded LK Comstock & Co a $245·8m contract to install Siemens Mobility Communications-Based Train Control, and undertake other equipment enhancements on the 8th Avenue subway corridor. The contract announced on January 13 covers the local and express tracks ...
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Metro Report InternationalBoston revises fare collection modernisation plan
USA: Following ‘critical feedback from riders, advocates and policymakers’, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has announced a revised Fare Transformation programme which it said would combine ‘meaningful improvements’ to existing payment systems with a phased approach to the deployment of a new system ‘that better represents the needs ...
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Metro Report InternationalBogotá Regiotram de Occidente contract awarded
COLOMBIA: A contract to design, build and operate the 39·6 km Regiotram de Occidente inter-urban commuter line linking Bogotá with its western suburbs was signed by China Civil Engineering Construction Corp on Janaury 7. The subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corp was sole bidder for the ...
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Metro Report InternationalBART board approves CBTC, connectivity and security programmes
USA: The award of a $798m contract for Hitachi Rail STS USA to roll out communications-based train control on the San Francisco Bay Area’s BART metro network was approved by the operator’s board on January 9, along with projects to improve passenger connectivity and deploy security staff. ...